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Well-known Mormons in the Salt Lake City Cemetery

If you like cemeteries and you like Mormons, you’ll love the Salt Lake City Cemetery. The oldest known burial here was in 1847, a child named Mary B. Wallace. Two years later, George Wallace was on the committee that recommended the place to Brigham Young. The cemetery covers 120 acres and there are now (September 2015) over 124,000 people buried here (out of a total 130,000 burial sites).

Presidents of the Church
Eleven Presidents of the Church are buried here: John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant, George A. Smith, David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Howard W. Hunter, and Gordon B. Hinckley. I’m missing a couple of photos, but here are most of them –

Tenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latetr-day Saints, 1970-1972

Sixth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1901-1918.

Fourteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

LDS Apostle and author of Jesus the Christ, The Articles of Faith, and The Great Apostasy

Apostle, author, and great speaker

Apostle, author, and smart guy

Apostle, president of Manti Temple, counselor in First Presidency with Joseph F. Smith and Heber J. Grant

LDS Apostle

Apostle, colorful character, and best swearer in the church

Missionary Martyr Joseph StandingOne of the most curious memorials to me is for Joseph Standing, an early missionary of the Church to the Southern States. He was killed by a mob near the town of Varnell, Georgia in 1879. The memorial reflects some hope of heavenly vengeance.

Early missionary to Georgia“There is no law in Georgia for the Mormons”

Tough words for the murderers of missionary Joseph StandingMissionary martyred by a mob of 12 men in Georgia

Those who created the memorial wanted to make sure we remembered the names of the mob members. A poem concludes:

Our brother rests beneath his native sod,His murderers are in the hands of God.Weep, weep for them, not him whose silent dustHere waits the resurrection of the dust.

Here are a few more headstones, including those for Truman O. Angell, Porter Rockwell, Karl G. Maeser, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, William Clayton, and W. W. Phelps –

Author of LDS hymn “Come, Come Ye Saints”

Architect of the Salt Lake City Temple

Bodyguard and friend of Joseph Smith

Head of CES and President of Brigham Young Academy (now BYU)

LDS Apostle and author of Jesus the Christ, The Articles of Faith, and The Great Apostasy

Eternal Love

Ninth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Fifteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Wife of Newel K. Whitney, 2nd Presiding Bishop of the Church

Composer of Come, Come Ye Saints

Was in Carthage Jail with Joseph Smith

LDS Apostle

Brother of Wilford Woodruff

Father of President Wilford Woodruff

Fourth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Wife of President Wilford Woodruff

Wife of Wilford Woodruff

Lyrics to If You Could Hie to Kolob, on the memorial to its author, W. W. Phelps